Signa esse quae contra naturam fiunt
Signs Beyond Nature
The author argues that miraculous events, such as the darkness at the Crucifixion, transcend natural laws and are confirmed by the testimony of witnesses like Dionysius the Areopagite.
Anyone who faithfully remembers the Gospel promise doesn't doubt that the things happening here, which are worthy of such wonder, are signs, since it is written: "There will be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars," and so on. However, I think that the things foretold here—without prejudice to a better opinion—should be understood as those things that happen here against nature; such as the fact that during the Lord's Passion the sun was darkened, the veil was torn, the rocks were split, the graves were opened, and the bodies of the saints who had been sleeping rose. For it could not have been a natural eclipse, which happens by the obstruction of the lunar body, since it is established that the moon was fourteen days old the day before—unless perhaps someone might borrow comfort for their own disbelief from Jewish perfidy, asserting along with them that Venus was then in the ecliptic line opposite the sun, which is indeed large and (as astrologers report) the only one of the five planets that emits a shadow from itself at night like the moon. Because neither reason proves this, nor does authority or faith approve it, it is rejected as futile. For if the body of Venus is so luminous, how does it produce such great darkness? Dionysius the Areopagite writes in his letter to Polycarp that he and several other philosophers saw the moon then falling upon the sun, and indeed against nature; for it was not the time of conjunction. This later provided him the occasion for his conversion when Paul was preaching. I know that many have spoken otherwise about this, but I prefer Dionysius, because he wrote what he saw, while others follow their own opinions.
The Purpose and Scope of Divine Wonders
Divine signs serve to reveal spiritual truths and precede the final judgment, operating outside the ordinary course of nature.
Signs are often not just universal but general, like the darkness that covered the whole earth from the sixth to the ninth hour when God was dying; and what is particular or less universal in them compensates for the capacity of the kind of time by its duration. For that death unveiled Moses’ face to everyone, tore apart the perpetual hardness, and brought the firstfruits of the resurrection into eternal joy. Those things that are said to precede the day of judgment by fifteen days—if they are indeed to happen—will not be subject to the laws of nature, since they have no foundation in canonical Scripture. This assumes, however, that we define 'nature' here, as we do in many other places, as the usual course of things or the hidden causes of events for which a reason can be given.
Read the original Latin
Quae uero huiusmodi stupore digna in his contingunt plerumque signa esse non ambigit quisquis euangelicae promissionis fideliter meminit, cum scriptum sit: Erunt signa in sole et luna et stellis, et cetera. Ea tamen quae hic praenuntiantur, sine praeiudicio sententiae melioris ea intelligenda arbitror, quae in his contra naturam fiunt; quale est quod in passione Domini sol obscuratus est, uelum scissum, petrae ruptae, aperta monumenta, et sanctorum corpora qui dormierant surrexerunt. Naturalis etenim eclipsis esse non potuit, quae lunaris corporis obiectu contingit, cum constet pridie lunam quartam decimam extitisse, nisi forte quis de ludaica perfidia incredulitatis suae solatium mutuetur, asserens cum eis Venerem tunc in ecliptica linea soli fuisse oppositam, quae quidem magna est et (ut astrologi tradunt) sola de quinque sideribus de a nocte umbram de se emittit ut luna. Quod quia nec ratio probat nec auctoritas aut fides approbat, repudiatur ut futile. Si enim adeo luminosum est Veneris corpus, quomodo tantas parit tenebras? Dionisius Ariopagita in epistola ad Policarpum scribit se et plures alios philosophantes tunc uidisse lunam soli incidentem, et quidem contra naturam; non enim erat coitus tempus. Quod ei postmodum Paulo praedicante conuersionis dedit occasionem. Scio tamen plures aliter hinc locutos; sed Dionisium praefero, quia quod uidit scripsit, ahi proprias sequuntur opiniones.
Sunt autem signa plerumque non modo uniuersalia sed et generalia, sicut illud quod Deo moriente tenebrae factae sunt per uniuersam terram ab hora sexta usque ad nonam, et quod in eis particulare est aut minus uniuersale capacitatem generis temporis perpetuitate compensat. Mors etenim illa Moysi faciem detexit uniuersis, perpetuam duritiam scidit, et resurrectionis primitias in etemam letitiam introduxit. Illa quoque quae diem iudicii praeuenire dicuntur per dies quindecim, si tamen futura sunt, quoniam de scriptura canonica firmamentum non habent, naturae legibus minime subiaeebunt, dum tamen naturam hic, ut in locis quam pluribus, dicamus solitum cursum rerum, aut causas occultas euentuum, quarum ratio reddi potest.
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